Birthday's to share this week : 31st January - 6th February 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Michael Mann does on 5th February - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy, turning 73, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 31st January

• Minnie Driver - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actress
• Portia de Rossie - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actress
• Justin Timberlake - Born 1981, turns 35 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter
• Dexter Fletcher - Born 1966, turns 80 - Actor | Writer | Director | Producer
• Anthony LaPaglia - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Philip Glass - Born 1937, turns 79 - Composer | Songwriter

Monday 1st February

• Terry Jones - Born 1942, turns 74 - Director | Actor | Producer | Writer 

Tuesday 2nd February

• David Jason - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Gemma Arterton - Born 1986, turns 30 - Actress

Wednesday 3rd February

• Isla Fisher - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actress
• Nathan Lane - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Michael Camino - Born 1939, turns 77 - Director | Producer | Writer

Thursday 4th February

• George A. Romero - Born 1940, turns 76 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor | Actor
• Patrick Bergin - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor
• Natalie Imbruglia - Born 1975, turns 41 - Actress | Singer | Songwriter
• Gabrielle Anwar - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actress

Friday 5th February

• Jennifer Jason Leigh - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director
• Charlotte Rampling - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actress
• Laura Linney - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actress | Producer
• Tony Jaa - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor | Stuntman | Writer | Producer | Director
• Michael Sheen - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer
• Michael Mann - Born 1943, turns 73 - Director | Producer | Writer | Cameraman
• Tom Wilkinson - Born 1948, turns 68 - Actor

Saturday 6th February

• Rip Torn - Born 1931, turns 85 - Actor
• Jim Sheridan - Born 1949, turns 67 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Kevin Whatley - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor

Michael Kenneth Mann was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA to mother and father Esther and Jack Mann - both grocers. He received a BA in English at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where his interests were in history, architecture and philosophy. At that time he saw Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove' and decided he had an affinity with film. He moved to London and attended the London International Film School and remained in the UK for seven years working on television commercials with his contemporaries including Ridley Scott, Alan Parker and Adrian Lyne. His first foray into the world of film making came in 1968 as Director and Cinematographer on a short documentary film 'Insurrection' about the Paris Student Revolt of that year.

He directed a number of other short films during the early 70's before writing four episodes of 'Starsky & Hutch' in the mid-70's, followed up quickly by four episodes writing for 'Police Story' which ran concurrently. It was here that he started to hone his research skills of detective investigative work that he could in turn portray with greater accuracy on screen - a trademark of all his later films.

His first feature length film came with 'The Jericho Mile' in 1979 which won three Emmy Awards. He followed this up two years later in 1981 with 'Thief' with James Caan, Willie Nelson and Tuesday Weld, for which he also wrote the screenplay. 1983 also saw 'The Keep' which he Directed and again wrote and starring Scott Glenn, Ian McKellen and Gabriele Byrne in a Nazi era horror thriller story.

It was the mid-80's however, that perhaps established Mann as the man of the moment as he Executive Produced the highly acclaimed 'Miami Vice' television series which ran very successfully from 1985 until 1989 and remains regarded as a touchstone of police television drama that influenced a generation. 'Crime Story' aired concurrently from 1986 for two seasons and was also created by Mann but failed to gain viewer traction against 'Miami Vice' and 'Moonlighting' which it was up against in the ratings.

In 1986 Mann first introduced us to the world of Hannibal Lecter in his adaptation of 'Manhunter' with Brian Cox in the lead role - later recreated so successfully by Anthony Hopkins in the film series based on the Robert Harris books.

As the 90's clicked over 'The Last of the Mohicans' with Daniel Day Lewis and Medeline Stowe picked up awards recognition in 1992, with the cult classic and a personal favourite of this Reviewer, 'Heat' with the pairing of Pacino and De Niro for the first time on screen together, supported by an ensemble cast that showcased Mann's deft touch for crime drama. This was followed up by 'The Insider' with Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer and was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

In 2001 his bio-pic 'Ali' with Will Smith as three time world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali with Jamie Foxx, Jon Voigt and two further Oscar nods. On all of these four films Mann also Produced. He followed this up with 'Collateral' starring Tom Cruise playing the unlikely role of a cold calculating hitman. The film also starred Jamie Foxx and Mark Ruffalo - and was nominated for two Oscars. Next up he Produced 'The Aviator' as Directed by Martin Scorsese which went onto win five Academy Awards and again another six nominations.

His big screen adaptation of 'Miami Vice' followed in 2006 which he Directed and Produced too with Colin Farrell in the Don Johnson role as Sonny Crockett, and Jamie Foxx in the Philip Michael Thomas role as Rico Tubbs.  Next up Mann served as Producer on two Peter Berg Directed films starring two familiar collaborators - Jamie Foxx in 'The Kingdom' and Will Smith in 'Hancock'.




His next Directorial outing was the historical gangster telling of 'Public Enemies' in 2009 with Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Jason Clarke, David Wenham and Channing Tatum, with Depp playing the lead role as the notorious John Dillinger.

The series 'Luck' survived just one season and was Produced by Mann with one episode out of the ten Directed by him. This gave way to 'Blackhat' in 2015 starring Chris Hemsworth which failed to claw back its US$70M budget by a country mile and was critically panned. A year ago it was reported that Mann was developing a film about the life and times of Italian super sports car supremo Enzo Ferrari which has begun shooting recently and has been a passion of Mann's for some fifteen years - expected to our screens sometime in 2017 if all goes according to plan.

Mann has 25 Producer credits to his name, 22 Writing credits and 19 Directing credits as well as four Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, one BAFTA win and one nomination, and another 26 nominations and 14 wins to date. He has been married to Summer Mann since 1974 and has four children of which Ami Canaan Mann is following in her fathers footsteps, and Alan Mann is a Production Designer and Art Director.

Michael Mann - always meticulously researched, preferred on-set camera operator, a penchant for his home town of Chicago as the backdrop to his movies, will shoot many different takes of the same scene from a variety of angles, shoots his commercials like mini-feature films, and takes time to research and develop his next project, and as a consequence we love your work! Happy Birthday to you Michael, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-